_All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign
languages, including the Scandinavian._

DEDICATED TO MY DAUGHTER Olive Marie Adams

TO THE READER

John Henry Smith has requested me to revise and edit his diary, and, to
use his own expression, "See if I can make some kind of a book from it."
It was his idea that I should eliminate certain marked passages, and
disguise others, so as to conceal the identity of the originals. Since
Mr. Smith is abroad I can do as I please. Aside from renaming his
characters, I have left them exactly as he has drawn them. This may lead
him to do his own editing in the future.

I have also taken the liberty of reproducing some of the sketches made
by Mr. Smith. In addition to literary, artistic, and athletic gifts Mr.
Smith has had the rare good fortune to--but I must not anticipate his
story.

THE EDITOR

Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

CONTENTS

ENTRY NO. PAGE

I. Miss Harding is Coming 3

II. Mainly about Smith 21

III. Mr. Harding Wins a Bet 29

IV. Bishop's Hired Man 44

V. The Eagle's Nest 54

VI. I Play with Miss Harding 65

VII. Two Boys from Buckfield 77

VIII. Downfall of Mr. Harding 91

IX. Mr. Smith Gets Busy 102

X. The Two Gladiators 115

XI. The Barn Dance 136

XII. The St. Andrews Swing 154

XIII. Our New Professional 176

XIV. Myself and I 188

XV. The Auto and the Bull 199

XVI. Miss Harding Owns Up 219

XVII. The Passing of Percy 235

XVIII. Mr. Harding's Struggle 253

XIX. The Tornado 258

XX. Fat Ewes and Sharp Knives 281

XXI. I am Entirely Satisfied 300

XXII. I am Utterly Miserable 303

XXIII. A Few Closing Confessions 317

THE CHARACTERS

JOHN HENRY SMITH, who tells the story. Heir of his father, lives in
Woodvale club house, devoted to golf, becomes interested in Wall Street,
and falls in love with Grace Harding

GRACE HARDING, only daughter of Robert L. Harding, visitor in Woodvale

ROBERT L. HARDING, millionaire railway magnate, who first despises golf
and then becomes infatuated with it

MRS. HARDING, the matter-of-fact wife of the above

JIM BISHOP, farmer near Woodvale, who knew Harding when the two were
boys in Buckfield, Maine

WILLIAM WALLACE, Bishop's hired man, later golf professional in
Woodvale, and later something else

OLIVE LAWRENCE, pupil to William Wallace

PERCY LAHUME, in love with Miss Lawrence

JAMES CARTER, wealthy member of Woodvale, who knows how to keep a secret

MISS DANGERFIELD, who makes a collection of golf balls

MISS ROSS, who is very pretty

MR. and MRS. CHILVERS, and MR. and MRS. MARSHALL, estimable young
people, who enter into this narrative

BOYD, LAWSON, DUFF, BELL, MONAHAN, ETC., members in good standing in the
Woodvale Golf and Country Club

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"... and I got it" _Frontispiece_

"How do I look?" _Title Page_

PAGE.

"... and threw it in the pond" 9

"Fore there! hay there!!" 15

"It makes an ideal hazard" 25

"... but there was blood in his eye" 37

"Fore" 49

"There is no law to compel a man to play golf" 57

"We rested on top of the hill" 73

"Did it hit you?" 87

"... and missed the ball by three inches" 95

"It is not necessary to caution me" 105

The dream 113

"At the gate waiting for us" 121

"We're not fighting, my dear!" 131

"It must be tough to have to wear skirts all the time"
135

"What do you think of me?" 137

"Jack ... never stopped a second" 145

"Mr. Harding ... executed a clog dance" 153

"We ran the auto into the sheep pasture" 159

"I have never seen a more perfect shot" 163

"It struck on the rear edge of the green" 181

"LaHume ... stalking toward the club house" 185

"Miss Harding ... smiled and looked innocent as
could be" 193

"It was not much of a drive" 207

"Run! Run, boys!" 211

"Then I struck the bull" 213

Diagram, "The auto and the bull" 218

"What are you looking for?" 221

"Had ignited the matches" 225

"He was tall, angular, and whiskered" 237

"LaHume was shot back several yards" 245

"Grasping her by the arm I dragged her" 267

"She left for the South" 282

"Business is business" 291

"Ten up and eight to play" 297

"She rose to her feet" 307

"I cannot turn back if I would" 315

"He looked doubtfully at me" 318

"This takes the cake!" 329

"And then I saw her!" 335

"I believe I could carry it" 345

JOHN HENRY SMITH

JOHN HENRY SMITH

ENTRY No. I

Miss HARDING Is COMING

"Heard the news?" demanded Chilvers, approaching the table where
Marshall, Boyd, and I were smoking on the broad veranda of the Woodvale
Golf and Country Club. We shook our heads with contented indifference.
It was after luncheon, and the cigars were excellent.

"Another heiress coming!" announced Chilvers, with the bow of a jeweller
displaying some rare gem "--another heiress on her way to Woodvale! This
is going to be a hard season for such perennial bachelors as Smith,
Boyd, Carter, and others I could name. You girls will have your work cut
out when this new heiress unpacks her trunks and sets fluttering the
hearts of these steel-plated golfers."

"Who is it?" impatiently demanded the chorus. Chilvers has all the arts
of an actor in working for a climax.

"You all have guessed it the first time," laughed Chilvers. "She's the
only daughter of Robert L. Harding, magnate, financier, Wall Street
general, the man who recently beat the pirate kings down there at their
own game. How much is Harding supposed to be worth, Smith?"

"Thirty millions or so," I replied.

"Well, I wish I had the 'so.' That would keep me in golf balls for a
while," Chilvers continued, turning his attention to the ladies. "What
show have you unfortunate girls against a combination like that? And
think of Percy LaHume! What will that poor boy do? Percy heads for the
richest heiress of each season with that same mighty instinct which
leads a boy to cast wistful glances at the largest cut of pie. He
thought the heiresses had quit coming, and now this happens; but he has
gone so far in his campaign for the hand and cheque-book of Miss
Lawrence, that he cannot stop quick without dislocating his spine. I
doubt if that poor little Lawrence girl will ever have more than five
millions."

"Never mind Percy and his prospects," said Marshall. "Who told you that
Miss Grace Harding is coming to Woodvale?"

"Carter told me," replied Chilvers. "Carter knows them. The whole
Harding family is coming, which includes Croesus, his wife, and their
fair daughter, aged nineteen or thereabouts. Ah! why did I marry so
soon?"

Mrs. Chilvers was standing back of him and soundly boxed his ears.

"How does it happen that the Hardings are coming here?" asked Mrs.
Chilvers, when told the cause of this excitement. "Are they Mr. Carter's
guests?"

"Mr. Harding is a charter member of Woodvale," I informed her. "For
some unknown reason he joined the club when it started, but has never
been here, and I doubt if he has ever played golf. He is the owner of
the majority of the bonds issued against this clubhouse."

"I wonder if Miss Harding plays golf?" said Boyd.

"Golf is not among the list of accomplishments mentioned by those
writers who pretend to know all about her," remarked Chilvers. "I have
been forced to learn from a casual reading of society events that this
remarkable heiress is without an equal as an equestrienne, that she
paints, sings, drives a sixty-horse-power Mercedes with a skill and a
courage which discourages the French chauffeurs, and does other athletic
and artistic feats, but I have yet to learn that she golfs."

"I presume," I said, "that she will take up the game, and also the turf.
The three Hardings doubtless will form one of those delightful family
parties which add so much to the merriment of a golf course. I can shut
my eyes and see them hacking their way around the links; the